


The stars above and monsters below

by LiesandTruths



Category: DCU
Genre: Death, Reincarnation, Venus - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-23
Updated: 2019-09-23
Packaged: 2020-10-26 16:16:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,244
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20745080
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LiesandTruths/pseuds/LiesandTruths
Summary: Stephanie had the world at her fingers and Death by her side.





	The stars above and monsters below

**Author's Note:**

> This is just an AU. Nothing here is canon except the characters sort of. I dunno I’m confused too. also like I'm so tired.

* * *

The gods died eons ago. Wonder woman breathed their essence but _ Stephanie _ lived it. _ Venus _was killed, willingly or not it did not matter, and she lived, a goddess in the trappings of a mortal. Spells and runes lined her soul, trapping her divinity in a ribcage of thorns.

_ Stars _ used to come when she called, mortals would scream her name in fear, in ecstasy. The pain ebbed and flowed like the tide, a constant reminder of her fallen divinity. Goddesses were not made to be subdued. They were never meant to follow or listen well. Hephaestus a prime example of a god’s fickle nature.

<strike> When you go from having the world at your feet to nothing you will weep for lifetimes </strike>

Venus did cry. It was painful, the salt stung her eyes and was vastly different from the bejeweled rivers she used to weep.

Venus was born of blood and seawater, ichor falling from the sky to birth her. She never wanted for anything and ruled her domain for eons. Her divinity blessed and tore, her power burrowing into the strongest of minds and convincing them of unspeakable horrors. She basked in its glory and birthed treasures, and discord. That was her, never at the forefront of history.

Half the story washed away by time. Cleopatra, Sacagawea, Joan of arc. People who shook the earth to its core and then were lost, people who inspired the world and burnt it to the ground.

It was rare she was ever quiet. Roaring waves filled her chest. Blood, golden and dripping, fell from her hands.

_ |she toppled empires with the swing of her hips and the curve of her lips| _

She mourned thousands for every life she stumbled upon.

She was made of carbon and gold and stardust, of bared teeth and pooling cries and the ghost of a hand on you face. She was everything, and was doomed to become nothing. She was a goddess wrapped and trapped in the skin of a mortal. Dying, one life after another.

***

Death and Venus were old friends. They spoke at every turn, every step he was there. A painful reminder of what she once was. 

_ There was an art, _ she thought _ . To every soul. A graceful dance she could never master. Her smiles too big and full of too-sharp teeth. Her eyes and blood glowed with a shadow of her long-forgotten power. _ She was careful. The modern age held nothing for her. _People were wary and cautious, their lives fleeting things. _

Deaths visage held a closer resemblance to Venus herself than the humans walking on the mortal plane, sharp eyes and teeth, long spider-like fingers and an uncanny, drifting walk. 

Death himself was gentle. He was a tall man, or a young boy. She supposed there were many things that connected them. Eyes are the windows into the soul and so they stayed unchanging throughout the millennia. His were a bright _ harsh _ green, resembling the one thing that could tear souls from his grasp.

There were times when she could almost convince herself that she were human. But then her shadow would move without permission, or she would almost float. Some years there would be drugs, alcohol, to numb the pain. Some lives she would devote herself to her work, others to a light airy thing full of midsummer nights, and whatever pleasure she could pry from the sharp mortality of life. 

***

There were years where she would wonder if there was anyone out there. Fallen beings following in her footsteps, or maybe she in theirs. 

Her mind aged slowly, she was young. If you had to ask her she would not be able to tell you how old she was. 

_ Thousands of millions of bloody, and stunning years. _

One lifetime she was _ Lyudmila Pavlichenko _ her memories scattered with the knowledge of a god stored in the body of a mortal. Other lifetimes she died early. 

An urge soared and danced above her sometimes, beckoning her, _ pulling her, _ towards something she didn’t wish to know except on special nights that groaned and felt like walking through thick molasses. A shivery feeling nudging her towards the oblivion she could only hope death entailed. There were times when she gave in. Leading to her death of the worst nature, painful, hurtful, vicious, things she once delighted in causing. There was little she delighted in doing now. 

***

Time wore at her, beating her and building her back up before shoving her off the brink _ over_, and _ over_, and _ over again_. 

Death was gentle, he was sharp, he had no need for emotions only harsh truths. She would see him throughout her life, sitting next to a grieving relative often accompanied by the lost soul. A last chance for them to say goodbye if they so wished. She was never given this pleasure nor did she ever wish for it.

***

The timeline sang with songs of old. Death knew her pain, but he bowed his head and gave her a gift. A crown of myrtle. A tiny halo adorned on the once-Goddesses head. His words echoing in her mind as she was birthed, “_ I may not be here when this life ends, my only hope is that you wait for me to lead to your next one.” _

There was an uncomfortable silence that filled the air. Her name was Stephanie in this life. It came from Greece which pleased the whirlpool swirling inside of her, but more specifically it meant crowned in victory and _ that _ made the monster howl in glee. _ Names have power after all_. Names granted power to those who knew how to use it. Venus was no stranger to power.

Her parents were Crystal and Arthur Brown, impoverished and unhealthy, Gotham was to be her home and not for the first time, Venus couldn’t wait for her new life to be over.

This life was odd, Gotham sung with untold tales and things hunted in the shadows. As Stephanie grew so did Gotham, the city understanding a goddess stood in its streets. With a gleaming smile full of too-sharp teeth Stephanie learned the nooks and crannies of Gotham, following Batman and tugging on the right strings to push others onto more fortunate paths. The shadows welcomed Venus and Gothams streets yearned for blood that Batman and his harsh fists could not give it.

One night out of many, there was a change, a fluttering in the womb of a girl, fourteen years of age.

Out of all the lives she had ever lived she had never wished a baby into existence. The baby in question was small and Stephanie was young, there was no father that much was certain and she was the mother. Hiding the baby was easy. Carrying the baby was short, a mere five months compared to the nine many other mothers had to deal with.The baby was a curious little thing and when she did give birth she managed to scrounge up enough money for a private birthing and a sealed adoption. The birth was off the records and the midwife didn’t ask for a name, but Baby _ glowed_. She could see it, an undeniable marking of who’s it was. Hers forever and always. No matter how old Venus ever was, she would always be able to find her children. 

(It wasn’t until years later, she finally could find Baby. It broke her heart to know her Baby wasn’t hers, and the monster inside screamed, it howled _ mine, mine, mine _. It brought her to her knees in pain. Golden tears dripping down her face for the first time in what felt like eons)

Baby was gone, but Arthur Brown came back, he came back full of rage, and hate. He tore at Crystal and locked Stephanie away. She wept with sadness and the monster inside howled in anger. 

Arthur Brown brought pain into her life and for the first time since World War Two, Venus felt the need to do something important. 

There was a fire thrumming through Stephanie's veins as she sewed the drapery together, a dark purple, a swirling mass of fabric and shadows. A black Kevlar suit and the cape sewn together under flashlight. While Arthur Brown raged at nothing and Crystal brown drowned herself in sorrows, Stephanie, _ Venus, _ was sharpening her tools, filched weapons and homemade flash bombs. Dozens of things finding their way into the multitude of pockets littered about the costume, brass knuckles, pepper spray, whatever would hurt.

She stole C-4 from her father and knives from the men who slipped through the door bringing slick smiles and brash fists. She channeled her fury into something she could be proud of. 

The costume swirled around Stephanie. The black calling out to the shadows, burying themselves and surrounding her. The purple cape hung over her shoulders and connected atop her head. A living specter, or perhaps an eldritch being from the tales of old. 

***

Her heart sang, it sang with the songs of her past lives and beat the war-call she rejoiced in hearing. There was a spark that tore at the bindings in her soul and said 

_ Fly, fly like the ground is burning and there’s nowhere else to go but up, fly like you wish to rejoin your brothers and sisters in the clouds. _

It sucked her up into the hurricane that was her. It pulled others into her grasp at night and left them bruised and hurting in the morning. It pushed some away and attracted others like moths. 

Robin had a soul that hummed. It tousled his hair and pulled Venus toward him. A floaty thing that spoke of empty promises, the clicking of keys, and broken wrists. He was hers, a little lost, a little forgotten but hers. Her blood and magic and fire flowed through his veins just as it did with her. The descendant of her once-child.

His soul spoke of pain and triumph and forgotten families and trying. The boy, _ Robin_, was stubborn, he was soft spoken and lonely. It called out to her, a baby looking for its mother. Venus was indifferent she had learned through trial and error that there would be no one to help when truly desperate. _Stephanie _ however wept, she did not forget her baby, Venus thought, _what was one child for another_. 

Batman was tall. He was imposing. It was comforting. _A kinder version of Zeus. _she thought before flinching back. _Zeus was never kind. He was arrogant and imposing and **dramatic**. _She thought with scorn. This man had the mystery of the sea and the soul of a bear. The protective nature you find only those who are deeply compassionate.

***

They were partners in crime, Robin and his Shadow. The bright colors of hope and the glint of eyes in the dark following him. She broke the rules Batman governed Gotham by and this Robin followed them almost to a T. She had been caught slinking with Catwoman before slipping away, and those of the iceberg lounge considered her more of them than a hero.

Batman did not tell his Robin everything, he did not want to tell Stephanie anything. For six months Robin had a Shadow, a Shadow who protected him like a mother would, who made sure he was safe and healthy. Shadow was good for him, the Shadow was his rock. Batman could only imagine what would happen if She left. 

Batman had nothing against Robins Shadow, it was Jack Drake that held a problem. He raged at The Batman and tore his son down in the pretense of helping. Trying to make amends after years of neglect. Jack Drake brought shame into her heart and pulled at the monster within. _ Yanked _ in a way it hadn’t since she started to feed it.

Jack Drake did not like her. _ Venus _ was a threat to him. Stephanie was not. Her very nature in conflict. The lessons she learned in this life screaming in retaliation and the goddess in her lighting fires in her fury.  
“How _ Dare _ he, taking what’s hers and claiming it to be his.” Robin, _ Tim _ was gone, leaving Stephanie in the ashes of his legacy. Trusting Batman to watch her, as if she wasn’t the one watching him. 

***

Bruce ached. In his ribs, his legs, his heart. His Robins brought reprieve, they brought light and a purpose to stay. They kept him steady and helped him bear the weight of his sins. 

The Barbara and Cassandra encircled them in a halo, never falling always watching, the justice league sung their own song to the side, but little Stephanie Brown was an enigma. Daughter of a criminal and an addict. A little girl daring enough to fight. Just out of reach, but close enough to see. She was a shadow leaving chaos and destruction behind her, giving and taking as she saw fit.

A blinding smile peeked out from the photo, a black eye and a broken arm to go with it. Her case file stared out at him. A nurse of a mother and a father in and out of jail since she was five. The file stated that Crystal Brown had a steady job and a fully owned house. The paperwork so good Bruce never would have thought twice if Tim hadn’t told him that her mother was in Arizona getting treatment. 

***

Stephanie had a steady income from whatever money she could grab off the thugs and the piles of cash stacked in the back of warehouses she slipped into. 

Bruce Wayne was looking into her, her case files had been requested by an alias and in his possession ever since. Stephanie’s mother had died two months ago by Arthur Browns hand. Venus had cast him out with him promising retribution that would never come. A shadow followed him and watched as he _ burned_, screaming in agony for what felt like an eternity, or at least it did for him, it felt like seconds for her.

She forged signatures and created aliases to continue her life uninterrupted and steady, Stephanie dove into thick books and google searches until she was filled to the brim with information, laughing at some interpretations of history while rejoicing at others.

She accelerated her schooling and sped by her classmates before graduating. Bored with the basics she delved into a more complicated self study backed by the Wayne foundation. A treasure trove of knowledge just waiting to be explored during the day and then applied at night in between blowing up warehouses full of drugs and protecting those who needed her help.

There was a glorious period in her life where she had no one to fear and the world at her fingertips. When her eyes would glow and she wouldn’t care and her shadow ate the blood she spilled as offerings to Gotham, and drank the sorrows of the citizens. 

But then, she fell. Broken arms and legs, feet unable to hold her, sharp chains and sharper enchantments trapping her for _ days_. No one missed her and no one thought to look. _ Batman _ found her trapped and screaming on day five. Losing more blood than he thought would be possible. Fingernails ripped out and hair gone. 

She escaped into the night before he could find her, whether it was Bruce or the Black mask she was running from not even she knew. All she knew was hurt. She dragged her broken, bruised body to Leslies Clinic and then was gone. 

***

Later she was told that her heart stopped, she was told that they restarted it before faking her death, before taking her away to the land of eternal sun and the plains of Africa. But that was not what Venus remembered. She died, and death did not greet her. She died and came back, before clawing her way through her coffin and the layer of grass above it, she died and then was made _ whole. _A breath of life sprung into existence six feet under and with that released the goddess from her bonds but tethered her to the mortal body of Stephanie Brown, tethered her to all of the previous lives she had ever lived. 

A goddess clawed her way to the surface and _ breathed_. She grasped the stars and forced her will upon them, she undid the seams of time and rewrote the memories of the world. Stephanie Brown did not die, her death was faked, and healing body smuggled out of the county to Africa. 

She _ grew _ in Africa, harnessed the power that had been lost to her for eons and searched for others like her. The gods were dead, that much was what she gleaned from the rubble of Olympus, their bloody and perfect bodies littering the ground, hers missing. She gained knowledge lost to all but herself and fixed what she could, with too sharp teeth, and spindly fingers, with hair glinting like oil on water and a certain grace that felt natural to her and otherworldly to others, with fingers that hovered on the edge of claws and quiet almost non-existent steps. 

Venus startled Leslie more than once and kept her guessing as to when she would pop up. By the end of the six months Leslie spent with Stephanie, and her blindingly quick recovery, she understood enough to let her go.

Venus travelled the world, helping those in need and destroying others, Mount Everest was beautiful, and France stunned her with its coastlines. Stephanie travelled everywhere from Malaysia to Greenland, avoiding the states and going places she never thought she'd see again and wearing faces she never thought she would wear again. She saw the pyramids she helped create long before she was ever Cleopatra. 

It was a long time before she ever thought about going back to Gotham. She was scared she supposed. Gotham was her home but so was the rest of the world. Gotham was where she was reborn, it was also where she died. 

She spent four more months on the run before she obeyed the urge to fly back, she alerted Leslie and boarded a plane, with a passport springing into existence in her hand. 

It was raining the day she arrived in Gotham, fat raindrops plinking down upon her hair scarf. The City rejoiced in having _ Its _ goddess home, rumbling the tiles beneath her in an almost-earthquake almost succeeding in making her mouth quirk up into a smile

***

Batman found Stephanie. In the hands of the Black Mask bleeding out. Batman loosened her bonds and fought the beast who hurt his Robins shadow. He rained hell upon him but in the end, Stephanie was gone. Bloody footprints ending in an alley. 

And then he heard it. The city seemed to wail, not the people but the stones in the ground and the pipes over head, the wires and the very being of Gotham mourned. It wailed for seven tremulous minutes and then stopped. It settled. The pain eased and few felt the difference. The children who grew up in its shadow and Bruce, Bruce felt the pain fluttering through it as if it were his own. 

But it stopped, and it took him years to understand why. Years to realize what happened that night was more than his imagination, and many more to understand the extent of what happened that night. 

***

It took two days for Bruce to find out, Leslie sent word two days after the death to Batman, Batman who was indifferent in the face of danger but who was shocked into submission when told. Who could only think of how Tim was going to feel. The Boy had lost so much, his job, his mother, his closest friend, and now his companion. 

When Bruce finally had the time to speak to Jack Drake there must have been something on his face that allowed Bruce to speak to Tim, the pain of someone in mourning, perhaps not for himself but mourning one person for another. 

When Tim was told he cried. Thick ugly tears that left him sobbing into his pillow, reaching for a phone that would call someone, anyone but instead left him hurting more. For not the first time Tim mourned the passing of a loved one. Felt it in his soul and destroyed himself thinking of ways he could have helped keep her alive. 

***

It was two years before Bruce heard from Leslie again. She had stayed under his radar surprising him when she popped back up again. She brought news she dared not send by messenger. 

With nervous hands and pleading eyes she explained what happened that night Stephanie died, how she lived instead and asked Leslie to fake her death. Leslie brought her to Africa, she explained fussing with her hair. She told Bruce how Stephanie was alive, how she was coming back, and she wanted to speak to Tim, wanted to make sure he was alright. 

There was a moment of silence, her plea washing over him and filling him with sorrow. Years seemed to wash off of Leslies face when he agreed. Stephanie was good for Tim, he was getting worried. 

Dick noticed his less than enthusiastic responses, Jason and Cass exchanged looks behind his back, and even Damian seemed confused at the lack of response from the third robin. 

Stephanie would be coming home in a week, a Tuesday afternoon flying in from Guatemala. Bruce promised Leslie that he would pick her up from the airport and bring her home until she could get back on her feet. 

Bruce sat in his office, Tim in front of him. Unsure how to approach this he began faltering. “I have some news,” Bruce flattened his lips while Tim didn’t glance up from his tablet. “You remember Stephanie,” at this Tim looked up.  
“Leslie contacted me earlier about her. She’s alive.” There was a moment of silence before Tim spoke.

“She’s Alive? Actually?” Tim had dropped the tablet onto the desk and was looking panicked. “For how long? Why--What took her so long to come back?” Millions of questions were running through Bruce's mind when he found out, but he held no answers for Tim. 

“Leslie didn’t say, Stephanie is coming back to Gotham on Tuesday, we are going to be picking her up and she will be staying with us for a few days while she finds a place of her own. I figured you’d want to catch up and I was hoping you would want to come with me to pick her up?” Bruce hopes Tim says yes for a million different reasons, one being that he hopes with Stephanie he will flourish like he did when he was Robin. 

“Does Steph want to see me?” Tim’s scared, Bruce realizes. He’s terrified that Stephanie moved on and he’s clinging to the last piece of the past while no one else is there to pull him up. Bruce understands that all too well, and with that there is only one thing he needs to say to get Tim to come with him.

“Of course.”

***

Gothams air, thick and smoggy filled her nose, and felt like home. The unsullied air of elsewhere was freeing but Gotham will always be comforting to Steph. Its at that Stephanie notices and catches the eye of one Bruce Wayne. 

For a moment, time seemed to stop, there was no going back from this but Stephanie was ready. Tim had grown, he was taller than her and skinnier. His hair pulled back into a bun, deep bags line his eyes and she worries, maybe she shouldn’t have left, maybe she shouldn’t have come back, maybe—

“Hey,” his voice trembles and so does hers as she answers.

“Hey,” she sniffs, and they surge into a hug leaving the car and her luggage respectively. It's nice, she thinks, but then she’s sniffling more and he’s basically crying, and they’re both crying now. Crying and hugging in the middle of the rain, very poetic but they’re both getting soaked and that’s when Bruce cuts in with his umbrella and ushers them into the car. 

“I’m really happy to see you,” Steph admits drying her tears on her sleeve. 

“Me too,” Tim sniffs as he tries to stop crying. Bruce sits in the front a starts driving. The rest of the ride to Wayne Manor is full of crying hugs and emotional talking. 

Everything was perfect, not until they’re almost at the manor Bruce speaks up. “Stephanie, we have a few more people staying with us than you might remember. We’ll introduce you when we get inside. They have all been told you are a friend who will be staying with us for a while, and they all have _ extracurricular activities, _like what Tim and I do, and like what you did.” He pulls into the manor garage and then she’s being whisked inside by Tim and there’s _ so many faces_.

Stephanie counts at least four new faces, and one semi-familiar face in Alfred. She starts to smile before freezing as one of the kids looms over her. He’s tall and she’s not scared just _ incredibly confused_. There’s two of him, when she focuses he solidifies but— wait, Venus understands. Jason Todd. A conundrum to her, and a tale of woe, but apparently alive now. 

Bruce walks in right as he’s about to say something, and silences Jason with a look. 

“This is Stephanie,” he pauses before looking sharply at Jason “be _nice_, she’s our guest. If you would please introduce yourselves _ nicely_.” There’s a moment of silence before a dark haired girl smiles and waves before signing a quick piece in ASL that Stephanie follows with little trouble, before smiling and responding in kind. Tim blinks a little and opens his mouth to say something but is interrupted by a tall dark haired cop in his twenties.

“Hi Stephanie! I’m Dick Grayson and its really cool that you know sign language! When did you learn?” Stephanie grins.

“I took an online course when I was abroad! I picked up a lot of languages while traveling!” Steph replies before flicking off her headscarf. 

“Bruce! She’s a blonde!” Jason cried and gasps before falling over in mock faint. Venus grins and laughs at his antics. “Well _ I’m _ Jason, Jason Todd” he smirks and winks at her before flouncing out of the room. 

The last boy was young and playing with a knife but when he looks up Venus knew exactly who he was. She would know those eyes in every lifetime. He sniffs when he looks at her. “I am Damian,” and with that, he left. Dick frowns at his back.

“He doesn’t mean to be rude, he doesn’t like new people all that much.” 

Steph smiles good naturedly at Dick, “No Harm No Foul, right?!” Dick nods distractedly before heading after Damian. The dark haired girl, Cassandra, as Steph learned from earlier waves and slips out.

“I’ll show you your room. Its across the hall from mine and next to Cass’s if you need anything just knock. Its, um, it's really nice to have you back,” Tim says, faltering at the end. 

Venus smiles, nods, and hugs him. She’s glad she came back. 

***

It isn’t long before Death slips inside her room. There’s a few moments of silence before he gives her a soft smile. She opens her arms for a hug and he gladly embraces her. 

“It’s good to see you.” Venus mumbles into Deaths hair. “I was worried when I didn’t see you the last time.”

“It was for your own good,” he says into her stomach and grins up at her adorably. “How was traveling?” Did you finally figure out how to get past all of those pesky bindings?” Venus sighs. 

“Yes, not that you were much help I had to _ die _ to get anywhere near the barrier. I was dead for six months before I got it right, but I truly am glad to see you.” Venus smiles as they continue to hug. 

Soft footsteps sound in the hall and they grow quiet. Venus sighs as they retreat. “How much did Bruce tell you about me?” She asks.

“Very little, you were a trusted friend of Drakes and have been traveling abroad, you are staying here until you get back on your feet. He didn’t mention anything about what you used to do, the others think you’re a civilian, or at least Grayson and Todd do, Cain is hard to read.” He hums in response.

“Well it would be horrible if a civilian found the cave, wouldn’t it,” Venus smiles all teeth and sharp edges with mischievous energy.

“It would be devastatingly horrible.” Winked Death as he slipped out of the door. 

***

The cave was as easy to get down to as she remembers. A twist of a clock and the elevator doors open.

“Bruce really needs better security” she muses aloud as the elevator descends. It's late, and Damian told her the time of the debriefing before patrol. 9:16, a bit early for her taste but she only went out in the dead of night, when the only people walking the streets were criminals or drunk.

The ding of the elevator pulls her from her thoughts and neither Jason, Dick, or Cass look up. Dick calls out to a Barbara, a greeting. She snickers and only then do they realize she is most certain she is not Barbara.

Tim gestures for her to join them. Jason and Dick sit in nearly stunned silence while Cass smiles and waves a greeting. Bruce only grunts and Damian pats the seat between him and Tim. 

She brought a new version of her previous costume, one that’s sewn with shadows for a cape and stars for eyes, she keeps the purple but this time a deep royal color that will not hide the blood stains, but rather accentuate them. 

There was a moment of rushed changing when their meeting ended and it wasn’t until Steph tugged on her mask that Dick approached her, Curiosity and confusion etched on his face. 

“Hey,” she greeted. An amused smile on her face. 

“Who are you? Tim knows you, and Cass likes you well enough, Damian doesn’t dislike you, he usually insults people before getting to know them, so, who are you?” He cringed after his gasping questions and waved his hand to try and rectify things. 

She laughed, “so many questions,” he paused, startled. “I’ll answer them, I suppose. I’m Stephanie brown, I helped Tim when he was Robin. Perhaps the little one just figured that insulting me would turn out badly. I’m not sure what Cass sees in me, my sign language isn’t _ that _ great.” She turns and throws a grin over her shoulder. “I’m glad Tim had you, he needs a rock, and unfortunately I wasn’t there to be it.”

***

It takes a while for her to get the hang of jumping with a grapple. A sleek almost-flight that ends in a split-second landing. She blows up a few warehouses of drugs and grabs any money she finds stuffing it into one of the endless pockets of her belt. 

It takes until late at night, maybe three or four in the morning for Death to find her on some roof in crime alley. Breathing clouds of smoke from her lungs, shaping stories from her past. 

“Pretty isn’t it,” Death comments. “The stars are covered by clouds and pollution but somehow still beautiful.” He says as he lands

He tucks himself into the wall a few inches away from her. “How was the world? I heard you trained with Talia” 

She hums and smiles pushing back her mask and sweaty hair. “Talia was nice, she’s my Grandaughter you know. That body you’re wearing is of my descent.” 

He laughs, “why do you think I chose it, I doubt any other vessel would have been able to hold me.” 

He pauses before continuing, quieter this time. “Does Ra’s know you’re his mother?” 

“No, and he won’t. He is _ not _ the child I birthed, the Lazarus pit has twisted him far beyond who he was before.”

Venus waved her hand and time stopped, all you could see in the sky was stars, every other light and cloud was gone and the night sky was brilliant. 

Death hesitated before speaking, “every star up there is dead, not a single one lives, and no one will ever know but us.” 

Death inched closer until she could rest her head against his comfortably. “I miss the old days. I don’t regret becoming this, but it's complicated, I never needed emotions like confusion or acceptance, I didn't even have a face.” He whispers. 

“Sometimes I forget to breathe, it isn’t until I’m gasping that I remember.” She sighs. “I don’t remember how I managed, I think you’ll figure it out. It's harder to express emotions than feel them, just because your face doesn’t show it doesn’t mean you don’t feel it.”

“None of the other adopted Wayne’s seem to think so, Jason hates me, Tim distances himself, Dick pities me, and Cassandra only stays for Bruce and Barbara.” Death seems to retreat into himself and then Venus understands. 

“You don’t owe them anything, and I don’t think Bruce would mind if you came and stayed at my place once I get one every once in a while. You’ll always have an out when you’re with me. I had one after every life with you,” Venus waves her hand again and everything goes back, time starts again.

They sit in silence before Jason taps into the comms and asks for backup in crime alley, just a few streets away from them. Dick starts to say something before Stephanie interrupts, 

“Damian and I are just a few blocks away, we’ll be there in two minutes.” 

“Thanks,” Jason replies. “Enter from the north side softly and stay hidden in the rafters, wait for further instructions once you’re in position.”

Damian replies in the affirmative and mutes the comms once more.

“I guess we gotta go, would you like a ride?” Death holds out an arm cheekily attempting a smile. Venus nods smiles and links arms before disappearing into the shadows with him. 

***

They reappear a rooftop away hidden from sight. Purple cloak swirling around her shoulders, already stained red with blood gives off an unsettling appearance. Her eyes shine and the part of her face that you can see curves into a large grin displaying all of her sharp-sharp teeth. 

Death shrinks into himself and mutes the bright colors of his costume. As they creep into the building they see a dozen men standing around many drugged girls and women, the youngest seemed to be about six and the eldest being forty. 

Venus turns a pair of pebbles over in her hand and they shift into wicked sharp daggers that yearn for blood. 

It’s then Jason speaks over the comms 

“A human trafficking ring that is having a round up of its merchandise before shipping them out over seas. Everyone important is in that room right now. I’m gonna flush the hired guns out leaving the big wigs in there with you. Damian, you gotta get girls out of the way while I distract them. If anything goes wrong Blondie you step in and help. You’re our wild card. You’re new. You’re unexpected.” 

She almost laughs at that, almost all of those men have run into her before, they promised to stop, they didn’t obviously, but she promised she’d come back and kill them if they ever tried to do anything again. It's a pity none of them will live to spread the rumor of her being back.

“ Damian are you ready?” Jason barks through the comms “I’ve got a distraction coming up in, 

three, 

two, 

one.” 

A clattering of trash cans sounds right outside. A big man in a blue coat sends about half of the thugs outside to check it out. The rest go and guard the doors. 

Steph flicks her hand at Damian catching his attention. _ You take out the guards near the door and block them, I’ve got the others. Once you’re done with the thugs watch the girls. Got that? _

Damian nods and readies his sword before dropping down onto the pair of thugs below them. He methodically takes out all of the guards without a sound, it isn’t until she crept behind the man in a blue coat and puts one knife to his throat and another to his waist they realize somethings wrong. 

She sinks one knife into his stomach and throws another knife into the head of the man across from him. Two others scramble back hissing something about a тень, _ a shadow _,They know who she is. They die slowly. Another four try to make a break for it but Damian knocks them out cold. 

One man, who doesn’t know who she is gets a hissed warning in his ear. 

“One warning, one chance, the others paid the price for ignoring me. Do not make that same decision.”

She knocks him out cold. She’ll decide what to do with him once she deals with the other four Damian knocked out. 

They each have a tiny X on their forearm. They have each encountered her before, each made a promise, each broken it. 

She wakes them up, sweat glistens on the first ones forehead before she guts him blood and organs spilling out. 

The second cries, she carves out his eyes, and tongue, and heart.

The third tries to run but Death catches him and sends him sprawling. She extends her current knife into a short sword and makes quick work of his arms and legs, she leaves him to bleed out.

The fourth faints once she wakes him up, she has to try three more times before she finally forces him to stay awake, rolling her eyes at Death who huffs in amusement. She carves out the stomach of the fourth before piercing it and letting the stomach acid wash over him. 

She smiles gently at the sobbing man, “you’ll be dead soon-- unless you get extensive help within the next ten minutes, of course,” And with that she turns to the other three men.

Out of the other three only two are alive. “One is seconds away from death and the other has lost nearly all cognitive functions,” Damian informs her helpfully. 

“Thank you Robin,” she smiles widely at the two left, she steps towards them slowly as her cape drags in the pools of fresh blood. “Do you know who I am?” They don’t move but she can see the recognition in their eyes. “I gave you a chance, you didn’t take it, you deserve this and more.” 

And so, she leaves them to die.

***

Jason comes in as she is in the process of waking up the man she knocked out earlier. She sits in front of him with Damian restraining him. 

“Red hood,” she nods respectfully. He doesn’t even blink at the mess she made. “Give me a moment. If you could stand in the shadows, I don’t need your help to be threatening.” She smiles when he goes to stand behind Damian.

“Hello,” she purred as the man in front of her wakes up. 

He squeaks in terror, and a cackle escapes her lips. 

“дьявол _ the devil _” his legs scramble as he tries to back away from her. 

“Not quite darling, you see I made a deal with these men behind me, they paid the price. I will give you the same offer, if you ever try to hurt, lie, steal, scheme, or kill I will know.” She pauses.

“No matter where you do it, I will know. Do you want to know how I will know?”

The man squeaks again which makes cackle even louder. 

“I am gonna hurt you,” she pauses to turn a knife into a red-hot brand. 

“I am going to press this to your wrist and then you are going to tell everyone that I am back, that тень is back, _ do you understand _ ? Tell _ everyone _, tell them that I am back and I will not be lenient.” She hisses before pressing the brand to his wrist. She digs it in and once he’s almost screaming she knocks him out. 

She marks every single man alive in that building with the same brand, and it doesn’t cool until she’s done.

***

It isn’t until they’re several roofs away that Jason stops. He pulls off his helmet and takes a few deep long breaths. She and Damian stop as well. It isn’t until he turns to look at her she even realizes he’s angry. 

“What was that blondie?” His words are sharp and he doesn’t stop there. “We don’t do that here I don’t care what you were doing outside of Gotham but we don’t do that. What you did to those men wasn’t okay, when I kill I do it in self defense I make it quick and painless, none of those men were going to hurt you but you killed them. You killed them, and you made them hurt, and with the ones you didn’t kill you branded, like they were animals. We. don’t. do. that. It's _ not _ okay”

Damian scuffed his feet at the ground a few feet over while she stared straight into Jason’s eyes. “I made them a promise three years ago, anyone who bore that mark and delved into crime would feel my wrath. I abandoned that promise two years ago and now I intend on keeping it. I gave them a second chance and they threw it away. I gave another man a chance, it is up to him whether he takes that chance or not.”

She turns on her heel and tilts her head at Damian. A silent question on the tip of her tongue. _ Are you coming _ a swift flick of his cape and he’s taken off without her and has blended into the city lights. She nods at Jason once before jumping off the roof. 

Standing there, there is little else for Jason to say other than comm Bruce. “Bruce there’s been a development. I wouldn’t trust Stephanie.”

  
  
  
  
  
  
  


***

  
  


A rush of noise overtakes the city as the sun rises, light streaming through the windows at the manor. Stephanie curls out from under the windowsill. Deep purple bags under her eyes. Blinking hard she stands up and shuffled to the bathroom. 

Running her hands over her face little blemishes fade away and leaves her looking refreshed even if she doesn’t feel it. Hands running through her hair she hums to herself as the events of last night come back to her. 

_ The man was high up. Word will spread I’m back and should discourage most I’ve come in contact with. Those I haven’t should be wary. Easy pickings for the others. _

Really the only problem was with Jason. She was certain he had alerted Bruce of what had there was only the problem of figuring out how much he had said. 

_ Damian was there and if I asked him he would back her up, Jason is enough of a black sheep that she could convince him he was imagining things, or exaggerating. Or…. I could come clean if asked, it would save time, and I almost have an apartment picked out. _

Curling her hair into large boisterous curls and pinning them back with her hands and a little magic she huffed at herself in the mirror. So little time to do what she had to do. She didn’t have much to do today other than look at apartments and try to get her death certificate annulled. Few things to do but important ones. Or at least important to others. Honestly she couldn’t care less. 

Jeans and a band tee where her pick of today black boots and a jacket slung over her shoulders she slipped out of her room to find Tim. 

Humming a greeting she nudged his shoulder. A startled sound escaped the poor boy who flailed for a minute before regaining his balance. 

“Hey there boy wonder,” a cheerful laugh echoed out of her mouth as Tim starred. 

“Y’know, I don’t remember you having that much hair. Did you get more?” She looked at him in bewilderment for a moment. 

“Tim, What the fuck.” She was legitimately confused. “I just curled it, it’s still all there there’s just more volume now. How tired are you?”

She reached out to poke him in the head but he batted her hand away sleepily. “I’m not that tired.” He grumbled. “Just didn’t get as much sleep as I wanted to. I’ll get more later; right now I need food.” His stomach growled audibly at that and so did hers. 

***

Damian, Dick, Cass, Bruce, and Jason were already sitting at the breakfast table. There was a heaping puke if pancakes and waffles in the middle of the table and a vegetable stir-fry in front of Damian. 

“Morning!” Stephanie chirped taking a seat across from Tim and next to Damian. As she reached for the stir-fry whatever meager conversation the others had came to a halt. All heads turned to look at her. She froze. 

“Don’t touch it…” Tim hissed from across the table. “It’s Damian’s, he _ never _ shares.” 

She spared Damian a glance who seemed to be enjoying this far too much, “well as Talia always said, مشاركة حصة أو الحصول على انفصل أعضائك, always share or get your organs ripped out!” She smiles cheerfully at the others and scooped up some stir-fry onto her plate. 

“Talia was a bitch.” Damian grumbled through a mouthful of food. Jaws dropped across the table as he didn’t yell at her for taking his food. 

“She was! Which is why I won’t rip out your organs for not sharing! But seriously if you don’t start eating your food I will eat it.” She grinned at Damian and then grinned larger at the rest of the people in the room. “I’m going into the city today, I’ll be looking for a new apartment, if you need me Tim has my new cell number and so does Bruce.” Damian looked fairly interested at that so when he opened his mouth to talk she wasn’t that surprised. 

“Can I come? There’s nothing to do here.” He looked at his father for permission. 

Bruce was hesitant to say no, “will you be safe?” He asked Stephanie. 

“Of course, I was just gonna apartment browse for a bit and get my death certificate annulled. Maybe stop by my old place, reminisce, you know.” She said while eating. 

The others continued to eat while Bruce assessed the situation, but Jason kept looking at her out of the corner of his eye. Eventually Bruce said yes, with rules of course. Home before seven and bring one of Bruce’s credit cards. Carry enough weapons to keep them safe but not enough to raise suspicion. Stephanie and Damian agreed and soon after breakfast Stephanie carted Damian away to her room to talk. 

***

“You gotta wear something nice. I’m not leaving the house with someone who looks like a trash heap. I had enough of that with Tim,” Stephanie informed Damian once she dug into his closet. 

“Wear jeans and a scarf. We gotta match, and a leather jacket. Sunglasses and a wallet. A few pebbles in your pocket should work right?” She grunted in annoyance once she realized he had. One of the things she had listed in his wardrobe. 

Flicking her fingers she grabbed a pair of pants Death didn’t like and changed them into jeans and a scarf. Shoving him into the bathroom she proceeded to change her nails into sharp pale pink acrylic like things. 

They left the house quickly, with in the front of her motorcycle and Damian on the back she took off quickly, rushing out of the driveway in a whirlwind of excited energy. 

***

As they stopped she said “I have a few different apartments I wanna tour. They’re appointments and one at at eleven, another’s at one, and another’s at four. I was gonna try to squeeze the death certificate dilemma sometime after that but I suppose that’ll come another day. 

Frowning Damian nodded before tugging her into a little cafe in an alleyway. “It has really good coffee,” he explained before pushing her into line and ordering a hot chocolate for himself and a coffee for her. The cafe was a small hole in the wall shop with no windows and a lovely amount of knives decorating the edges. Which is to say, enough to make a normal person blink. Of course neither Stephanie more Damian were normal people. 

The long katanas and butterfly swords mounted on the wall were sharpened to a beautiful point and the stiletto daggers hanging from the ceiling glistened in the dim light. Bits of glass reflected the light making it jump around the room. A tall woman brought them their coffee and hot chocolate, Damian paid her in hundreds and tugged Stephanie out of the cafe. Bouncing over to the motorcycle he grinned, all teeth and edges, waiting for her. 

“lets go.” She said before draining her coffee and turning the paper cup into a diamond barrette for her hair. Clasping it into place and putting on her helmet she hopped on the bike and then they were off. 

  
  



End file.
